Thematic Investigations: Non-ideology (or everything we don't know we know)

"*Emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a 'natural order', must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable. It is worth recalling that what is currently called realistic was itself once 'impossible'.*" - Mark Fisher, *Capitalist Realism* (2009) "*The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.*" - Karl Marx, *The German Ideology* (1932) "*\*sniff\**" - Slavoj Žižek **TI002: Non-ideology (or everything we don't know we know)** For the most part, we do not consider most of what we do everyday or how we think to be in any way ideological: from buying things online to working for a wage, from wanting to own a car to poor people being lazy. ‘Ideology’, then, is often conceived of as a series of ‘external’ constructs, which require conscious engagement. Indeed, popular conceptions of the term involve some overarching and wide-ranging set of ideas relating to the political and economic systems of societies. And yet, thinkers such as Slavoj Žižek and Mark Fisher have developed additional conceptions of ‘ideology’ in which ideas and beliefs function as a “*subconscious phenomenon that helps to shape the world we live in*”. Alenka Zupanic writes of the ‘reality principle’ in psychoanalysis, “*The reality principle itself is ideologically mediated; one could even claim that it constitutes the highest form of ideology, the ideology that presents itself as empirical fact (or biological, economic...) necessity (and that we tend to perceive as **non-ideological**). It is precisely here that we should be most alert to the functioning of ideology.*” We can therefore also understand ‘ideology’ as a series of background assumptions that shape our thinking and our values, constraining both our individual and collective imaginations regarding what is possible, and thus our actions on the wider world. In the local context, discussions of macro-politics (foreign policy, economic strategy, etc) and even daily interactions with state policy (housing, healthcare, taxes, etc) rarely involve the ideological underpinnings that constrain and shape them. Instead, there is a widespread understanding that decision-making is - and has to be - rational and non-ideological, in order to produce the best outcomes. We might ask ourselves, however, to produce the best outcomes *for whom*? As Michael Parenti notes, “*many of our political perceptions are shaped by culturally prefigured templates implanted in our minds without our conscious awareness. To become critically aware of these ingrained opinions and images is not only an act of self-education; it is an act of self-defence.*” In this discussion, we shall begin a deeper dive into the ideological premises underpinning our daily lives and our wider communities: first asking what we assume has to be the way it is (obviously), then why we think the way we do, and subsequently if a better world is at all possible. **Format** 1. Brief self-introductions (Why are you here? What do you hope to learn?) 2. Breakout into smaller groups (4-6) 3. Watch a relevant video: [Slavoj Žižek on "They Live" (The Pervert's Guide to Ideology)](https://youtu.be/TVwKjGbz60k?si=tboKiEaJ7YH1iWqf) (6 mins) 4. Turn-based discussion *The development and fine-tuning of a more optimal format for these discussions is ongoing. Please contribute feedback, ideas, criticism!* **Additional References** 1. [\[YouTube\] Slavoj Žižek on "They Live" (The Pervert's Guide to Ideology)](https://youtu.be/TVwKjGbz60k?si=tboKiEaJ7YH1iWqf) 2. [\[Excepts\] TI002: Non-ideology (or everything we don't know we know)](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SRVxy5AawbWvlbvNTn5IOZGiTrGqt4_SCMhDdtWodB0/edit?usp=sharing) List item 2 consists of excerpts compiled from 3, 4, 5: 3. [\[Wikipedia\] There are unknown unknowns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_unknown_unknowns) 4. [\[Essay\] What does Slavoj Žižek mean when he talks about ideology?](https://bigthink.com/the-present/slavoj-zizek-ideology/) 5. [\[Book\] Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?](https://files.libcom.org/files/Capitalist%20Realism_%20Is%20There%20No%20Alternat%20-%20Mark%20Fisher.pdf) 6. [\[Wikipedia\] Cultural hegemony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony) **Thematic Investigations** Borrowed from Paulo Freire writing in his influential work [Pedagogy of the Oppressed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed), thematic investigations are topical discussions in which there is a "*a common striving towards awareness of reality and towards self-awareness, which makes this investigation a starting point for the educational process or for cultural action of a liberating character.*" Instead of the one-way transfer of information and knowledge characteristic of a teacher-student relation, everyone takes the role of a co-investigator during the discussion, contributing different perspectives and questions such that we may all achieve a deeper understanding of both the topic and our material reality. **\*if you'd like to come but are struggling financially, please let me know and I'll buy you a drink and/or food no questions asked**